1. history and culture of saudi arabia

8/22/2019 1. History and Culture of Saudi Arabia

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Saudi Arabia


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Identification

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (in Arabic, al-Mamlaka al-Arabiya as-Saudiya)occupies most of the Arabian Peninsula, the original homeland of the Arab

people and of Islam. The cultural identities Saudi Arabian citizens expressare principally those of Muslim and Arab, linking them to millions of peoplebeyond the nation's borders. They also identify with the contemporary stateand its national culture; the country's name links the ruling dynasty, AlSaud, with the state's cultural and geographic setting.

Identities connected to the traditional ways of life of the Bedouin and ofoasis-dwelling farmers, fishers, craftspeople and artisans, and merchants,caravaneers, and long-distance traders remain in force even as economicchanges have transformed or ended those ways of life. Regional and kin-based tribal and clan identities are shared among Saudi Arabian citizens.


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Geography

Saudi Arabia occupies 868,730 square miles (2,250,000 square kilometers).It is bounded on the east by the Arabian (Persian) Gulf; on the west by theRed Sea; to the south and southeast by Yemen, Oman, the United Arab

Emirates, and Qatar; and to the north and northeast by Jordan, Iraq, andKuwait.

Saudi Arabia has a hot desert climate with high humidity on the coastalfringes. Rainfall is scarce except in the area of Asir, where it is sufficient for

agriculture on terraced farms and upper slopes and alluvial planes. Saudi Arabia has four main regions. Najd, the geographic center and

political and cultural core, is a vast plateau that combines rocky and sandyareas with isolated mountains and wadi systems. Agricultural oasis are the

sites of villages, towns, and cities. This area's rangelands have longsustained nomadic pastoral production and are the homelands of the mainBedouin communities. Najd is bordered to the west by the regions of Hijazand Asir along the Red Sea. A narrow coastal plane known as Tihama ispredominant in the south, while a mountain chain with a steep westernescarpment runs through these areas.


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Geography

The largest oasis, al-Ahsa (al-Hasa), is watered by artesian wells andsprings in the interior of the Eastern Province and provides dates and other

crops. The Eastern Province is also the main source Saudi Arabia of oilwealth. Oil and gas wells, refineries and other processing and distributionplants, and the headquarters of the national oil industry are located there.Trade and urban centers have long existed in this area, but the tricitycomplex of Dammam, al-Khubar, and Dhahran has been predominant sincethe 1960s, while Jubail is becoming a large industrial city.


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Geography

Each geographic region has diverse local customs and histories. However,all the regions share traditional ways of life in a harsh desert environment

and from a long history that includes the creation of the contemporary stateand its culture in the last three centuries. They also share a common historyof development since the 1950s, including a vast oil-revenue-induced boombetween the mid-1970s and the mid-1980s, military events that led to thepresence of foreign troops on Saudi Arabian soil in the 1990s, and theprocess of "globalization" at the end of the twentieth century.


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Geography

Linguistic Affiliation. Arabic is the language of all Saudi Arabian citizens andabout half the immigrants. Classical Arabic ( fusha ) in its Koranic, high

literary, and modern standard forms is used for prayers and religiousrituals, poetry, lectures, speeches, broadcasts, written communications, andother formal purposes. Conversationally, people use colloquial Arabic (amiya ). There are many sub dialects and internal variants. English is themain second language.

Symbolism. The national flag is green, the color of Islam, and bears a whiteinscription that translates as, "There is No God but God, and Muhammad isthe Messenger of God." A white saber, the sword of Islam, was added in1906 and symbolizes the military successes of Islam and of Abd al-Aziz Al

Saud, the founder of the contemporary state. The national logo depicts twocrossed swords and a date palm tree. The national day is 23 September,marking the unification in 1932 of the regions of Najd and its dependencies,Hijaz, and Asir to form the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.


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Geography

The state and people engage in the creation of a national cultural heritagethrough the preservation or reconstruction of elements from the past that

are seen as embodying the traditional culture. Examples are thepreservation of old houses and mosques, the use of traditional motifs innew buildings, the holding of camel races, and the setting up in museumsand hotels of tents with rugs and paraphernalia typical of traditionalBedouin tented households.

The national culture also embraces the new and the modern: a nationalairline (Saudia), oil industry and petrochemical installations, wheat growingin the irrigated desert, skyscrapers, shopping malls with artificial waterfallsand ice-skating rinks, and super modern highways, ports, and airports. The

contemporary consumer culture includes automobiles, pickup trucks,videocassette recorders, multi-channel televisions, and telephones as wellas computers and mobile phones.


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Geography

Other dimensions of the national culture and its symbolism include

performances such as the ardah , where men dance waving swords in theair; the recitation of epic poems about historical events related to tribalaffairs; and national sports competitions. The distinctive clothing worn byboth men and women conforms with Muslim dress codes that prescribemodesty for both sexes but especially women.

Saudi Arabia's most powerful cultural symbols are those linked to Islam.The ritual celebrations that have the strongest hold on people'simaginations are the holy month of Ramadan, the holy pilgrimage ( haj ) toMecca, and the Muslim feasts of Id al-Fitr and Id al-Adha , which occurafter the end of Ramadan and in conjunction with the pilgrimage,respectively. Other important rituals are the more private social celebrationsof weddings, visits (especially among women) for joyous and sad occasions,extended family and clan reunions and other kin-based socializing, and the

expression of condolences and participation in funerals.


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Urbanism, Architecture, And The Use Of

Space In 1950, roughly 40 percent of the population was nomadic and resided in

tents in highly dispersed patterns on vast rangelands, where they migrated

with herds of camels, sheep, and goats to seasonal pastures and for accessto water. Another 40 percent lived in villages in the rural areas of oases orthe Asir highlands and worked mainly in agriculture. The remaining 20percent were urbanites in the old cities of Mecca, Medina, Jiddah, Taif,Abha, Buraydah, Unayzah, Ha'il, Hufuf, and Riyadh. In 1992, three-quarters

of the population was classified as urban.

Major changes accompanied the growth of the oil industry in the 1950s.New cities developed rapidly, while older ones increased in size. NomadicBedouin settled in villages and in and around cities, and villagers left their

communities for rapidly growing urban areas. This geographic mobility wasaccompanied by occupational mobility as Bedouin and villagers worked aswage laborers or small-scale traders and taxi drivers and then becamegovernment and private sector employees, professionals, and

businesspeople. People from old cities also moved to newly developingcities and experienced occupational change.


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Space .The new cities and the transformed areas of old ones depend on the use of

automobiles. They sprawl over large areas, have neighborhoods separated

by open spaces, and are linked by wide thoroughfares, freeways, and ringroads. The new urban fabric contrasts sharply with urban scenes thatlingered into the 1970s. The old cities were walled and had compactresidential areas with mazes of narrow paths, parts of which were coveredby the upper stories of houses. Most houses had inward-looking courtyards,

and some used wind catches to circulate air. The old cities also had datepalm gardens with wells and other greenery between and amongneighborhoods. Mosques were within easy walking distance fromresidences, and there was always a main central mosque, a major market

area, and a principal seat of government that was usually part of a fort.


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Space.

Similarities in the social use of domestic space transcended the categoriesof nomad, villager, and urbanite and continue today. The tents of nomadsand the permanent houses of others were divided into sections for men andwomen, which also served as the family living quarters. Among thenomads, men sat on kilims and carpets around a hearth outside the front of

the tent to visit, drink coffee and tea, and eat. Boys past puberty and malevisitors slept there. Women made similar use of the space set aside for theirvisiting in the tents.


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Space The same pattern of gender-segregated space continues to exist in the

homes of sedentary people. Modern housing often has separate entrances

and separate reception areas or living rooms for each gender. In manyhouses, people sit on carpets or cushions alongside the walls of the room,and most of those houses have areas with chairs and sofas around thewalls. The central space of the room is left open.

People in both cities and smaller communities now live mainly in individualdwellings with exterior surrounding walls. Although apartment buildingsexist, they usually are inhabited by immigrants. The tents and old housesusually housed extended families of three or more generations. Althoughnuclear family households are increasingly the norm, relatives continue to

cluster together, and it is not uncommon for brothers to locate theirdwellings on adjacent lots or inside a common compound. Many immigrantslive in camps specifically created for them or in abandoned housing in theolder parts of towns; some guest workers live on farms.


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Food & Economy

Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. The arrival of a guest at one's home is an event that leads to a specialmeal in honor of the visitor. Traditional etiquette required that sheep, goat, or camel be sacrificially slaughtered,and this is still often done. However, chicken may be substituted, and in many urban households meat disheshave replaced eating the whole animal. Major ritual occasions associated with Islamic feasts, weddings, reunions

of family and kin, and other social events still require the sacrificial slaughter of sheep or, less commonly, goats oryoung camels.

For these events, meat is boiled in huge pots, and part of the soup is passed among the guests, with the restpoured over large trays of rice on top of which the cooked meat is placed. Traditionally, male guests and oldermen gather around the tray and eat first, using the right hand; they are followed by younger men and finally boys.Women and girls eat separately, often food prepared specially for them but sometimes eating what the men and

boys have not consumed. Multiple rounds of coffee and tea are served before and after the meal, and incense isburned.


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Social Stratification

Classes and Castes. A major social division is that between guest workersand local citizens. The working class is largely composed of temporary

immigrants, who also occupy middle-class positions and a few positions inthe upper class.

Major variations in income and accumulated wealth exist, with the majorcategories including the super-rich, the very rich, and the rich alongside alarge middle-income group and some with limited incomes. Only smallpockets of poverty persist. A strong ideology of egalitarianism is traditionalamong Saudi Arabians, whose social and verbal patterns of interactionstress equality and siblinghood rather than status differentiation. However,degrees of luxury vary greatly. Differences in lifestyle are increasing as

wealthy elites interact less commonly with middle-class people. Commonattitudes, beliefs, and practices are shared across economic divides, whichalso are bridged by ties of kinship and religion.


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Social Problems and Control. Adherence to Islamic values and maintenance

of social stability in the context of rapid economic change have beenconsistent goals of Saudi Arabia's development plans. Religion and societycombine to foster significant social control. A powerful deterrent to deviantbehavior is that such behavior brings shame to one's family and kin and isconsidered sinful. Crimes related to alcohol and drugs and to sexualmisconduct sometimes are linked to rapid modernization. Theft is rare, andother economic crimes are relatively uncommon, with the exception ofsmuggling. Assault and murder are limited mainly to segments of tribalcommunities and usually involve issues of honor and revenge.


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The justice system is based on the Sharia , which defines many crimes andspecifies punishments. Crimes not specifically identified in the Sharia are

defined on the basis of analogy and often are punished by prisonsentences. Sharia-prescribed punishments usually have a physicalcomponent. An individual arrested on a criminal charge is detained in apolice station until a judgment is rendered by a court of first instancepresided over by one or more qadis. A court of cassation, or appeals court,

also exists, and the king functions as a final court of appeal. A person foundnot guilty is released. If a physical punishment is prescribed, it is carried outin a public place, usually outside a main mosque on Friday, where thecriminal's name and ancestral names are called out loudly for all to hear and

where the shame is said to be more painful than the physical blow. Prisonsentences, typical for cases involving drugs, are less public. Foreignersconvicted of crimes are punished and then deported.


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Islam is strict about issues of law and order and rigorous in the use ofwitnesses. For a man to be convicted of theft, four Muslims must swear a

religious oath that they saw the theft take place. Alternatively, an individualmay confess. Physical punishment usually is applied only to serious repeatoffenders. The state employs the police, supports the qadis and the courtsystem, provides the prisons, and assures that maximum media attention isgiven to punishments.

Military Activity. Saudi Arabia maintains an army, navy, air force, coastguard, national guard, and frontier guard with a combined total of about twohundred thousand men. These all-volunteer forces have state-of-the-artequipment and a reputation for professionalism.


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Religion

Religious Beliefs. All Saudi Arabian citizens are Muslims. Except for a smallminority of Shia, Saudi Arabians are Sunni and mainly follow the Handbali

school of Islamic law ( madhab ). Half or more of the immigrants are alsoMuslims. Non-Muslim faiths are not allowed to practice in Saudi Arabia.

Religious Practitioners. Islam does not have ordained clergy or priests. Theperson most learned in Islam is the one who leads the prayers. The learned( ulama ) include judges, preachers, teachers, prayer leaders, and otherswho have studied Islam.

Rituals and Holy Places. The major everyday rituals are related to the fivedaily prayers that constitute one of the five pillars of Islam. Those who prayface Mecca, ideally in a mosque or as a group. The haj (pilgrimage) is

another of the five pillars and should be performed at least once in one'slife. Visits also take place to the mosque and tomb of Muhammad inMedina. The other three pillars of Islam are witnessing that there is no Godbut God and Muhammad is His Messenger, fasting during the day

throughout the month of Ramadan, and the giving of alms.


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Religion

Religious Beliefs. All Saudi Arabian citizens are Muslims. Except for a smallminority of Shia, Saudi Arabians are Sunni and mainly follow the Handbali

school of Islamic law ( madhab ). Half or more of the immigrants are alsoMuslims. Non-Muslim faiths are not allowed to practice in Saudi Arabia.

Religious Practitioners. Islam does not have ordained clergy or priests. Theperson most learned in Islam is the one who leads the prayers. The learned( ulama ) include judges, preachers, teachers, prayer leaders, and otherswho have studied Islam.

Rituals and Holy Places. The major everyday rituals are related to the fivedaily prayers that constitute one of the five pillars of Islam. Those who prayface Mecca, ideally in a mosque or as a group. The haj (pilgrimage) is

another of the five pillars and should be performed at least once in one'slife. Visits also take place to the mosque and tomb of Muhammad inMedina. The other three pillars of Islam are witnessing that there is no Godbut God and Muhammad is His Messenger, fasting during the day

throughout the month of Ramadan, and the giving of alms.


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Religion

Death and the Afterlife. The dead are washed, wrapped in seamlessshrouds, and buried in graves facing Mecca without coffins or markers.Burial takes place before sunset on the day of death. The dead go toheaven or hell.


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Traditional Arabic Dress For the Arab Man

Inside Saudi The Saudi Arabic dress code is white in the summer, and muted colored thobes may be worn in the winter

months.

During the season of Ramadan, some Saudi Arab men will wear tans, browns, yellows, grays, navy blues but mostmen stay with the traditional white thobes. Some may wear black, but it is discouraged because the Prophet

Mohammad frowned on black, and reserved that color for women. The Thobes can have mandarin-type stand up collars, or pointed collars. There are even some with buttoned

down collars on designer thobes.

The Thobe is fastened with little buttons down the center front, or in less expensive Thobes, they buttons arereplaced with snaps.

The more expensive Thobes have covered buttons, pockets at the hips and sometimes a breast pocket. Somehave buttoned sleeves and others have French cuffs. The Arab men often use 18 karat gold cuff links, or cuff links

with gem stones to hold the sleeves together. As long as the adornments applied to the Arabic dress garment are not made of pure gold or silver, then the Arab

man is in compliance of Sahria Law.

One of the most important aspects of Arabic dress for the Arab man is what is worn underneath the thobe.

The Prophet Mohammad decreed that a man, like a woman, must be modest. He must protect his "awrah" at allcosts.


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Inside Saudi The Saudi Arabic dress code is white in the summer, and muted colored thobes may be worn in the winter

months.

During the season of Ramadan, some Saudi Arab men will wear tans, browns, yellows, grays, navy blues but mostmen stay with the traditional white thobes. Some may wear black, but it is discouraged because the Prophet

Mohammad frowned on black, and reserved that color for women. The Thobes can have mandarin-type stand up collars, or pointed collars. There are even some with buttoned

down collars on designer thobes.

The Thobe is fastened with little buttons down the center front, or in less expensive Thobes, they buttons arereplaced with snaps.

The more expensive Thobes have covered buttons, pockets at the hips and sometimes a breast pocket. Somehave buttoned sleeves and others have French cuffs. The Arab men often use 18 karat gold cuff links, or cuff links

with gem stones to hold the sleeves together. As long as the adornments applied to the Arabic dress garment are not made of pure gold or silver, then the Arab

man is in compliance of Sahria Law.

One of the most important aspects of Arabic dress for the Arab man is what is worn underneath the thobe.

The Prophet Mohammad decreed that a man, like a woman, must be modest. He must protect his "awrah" at allcosts.


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Inside Saudi "Awrah" is the area between a man's navel and his knee. In the Koran, it states: "O Children of Adam, take your

adornment (by wearing proper clothing) for every mosque", and religious scholars have further defined themeaning of this statement in terms of male modesty, namely, protecting the "awrah".

Arabic dress code for the Arab man is obligatory according to Islamic law. Wearing shorts that disclose the thighs

or show the shape of the buttocks, does not cover the "awrah".

Neither does Arabic dress that is transparent and displays skin complexion, nor a tight clothes that show the size,shape or bends of the "awrah".

All of this is forbidden, especially showing off in front of other people. It doesn't matter if women are embarrassedby seeing something they shouldn't. They won't be punished in this case. This is the one time it is the man's faultfor not being modest, as he is called to be.

If an Arab man's pants are wide enough and not tight, then he may tuck his shirt in his pants, as long as he doesnot display his "awrah".

Covering the "awrah" is most important and obligatory during the prayer time. What many people do is cover their"awrah" while going to prayer but are negligent of it outside the prayer. This is a clear mistake and a wrongful act.

The Matawa will reprimand an Arab man for improper Arabic dress, but not as severely as he would for a woman.


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Inside Saudi The differing countries in the Middle Eastern region will have their own variations of the thobe style as well as theway the head gear may be worn, but the principals are universal in Islam.

Arabic under garments are also prescribed for the Arab man. Older men wear boxer-like shorts that go from thenavel to the knee, then wear loose fitting long white pants over them. These long white pants extend to the mid-thigh.

These boxers and longer white pants do not have a slit in the front of them like North American underwear.

Many Muslims believe that urinals are offensive, and some refuse to use them at all.

When nature calls, the proper and correct code of behavior, is to squat or sit. To stand to urinate is not in accordwith the purest translation of Sharia Law.

Younger, less traditional men don't wear the boxer-type shorts--they just wear the loose-loose fitting white pants,that extend from the navel to the mid-calf.

Sometimes a young Arab man will simply wear the boxer-type shorts that extend to the knee instead of mid-calf.According to the Islamic traditionalists, this is improper Arabic dress, but rarely is a young man punished for this.

Arabic dress dictates a man wear a tee shirt under his thobe, because sometimes the thobe is sheer, and anotherperson should not look at the nakedness of another.

The tee shirt can be either short or long sleeved, and is made out of cotton or a cotton blend.


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Inside Saudi Ghutra: A square scarf, made of cotton or silk blend, folded in a triangle and worn over the Tagiyah. In Saudi

Arabia, it is either all white or red and white checked. There is no significance placed on what color the manwears, but most Arab men wear the red and white checked in winter months, and the pure white on in the

summer. Igal: A thick, double, black cord that is worn on the top of the Ghutra to hold it in place. It can be made for camel's

or cow leather, or it can be a cord fashioned from wool or cotton. It is NEVER made from pig skin.

The Arabic dress style varies for a mutawa, or religious policeman. He has to prescribe to the same requirementsfor the undergarments, but his thobe is much shorter than the average man.

The matawa's thobe is just past mid thigh--just long enough to cover the longer pants of his undergarment.

He also differs in appearance. Matawa grow their beards to their mid chest, and most are scraggly andunkempt.

The matawa's appearance and dress make him standout in the crowds, and the average person knows to behaveor escape the scrutiny of the feared religious police.

The faces of the ordinary Saudi Arab man are clean shaven.


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Saudi Women; Traditional Dress

The abaya, the name for the traditional Arabic dress, hides a womans figure from the eyesof a man, and therefore, she cannot lead him to sin if she is properly covered.

The Abaya is made from cotton, polyester, nylon, wool or silk. There are varying cutsfrom a sack-like tent robe, to a flowing a-line, glamorous gown-like covering. Some of the

Abayas have embroidery, tassels, beading, sequins, ribbons, lace and other decorativeaccessories. They can be buttoned, zipped or snapped together, and as long as the neck,wrists and ankles are covered, the abaya is doing its job.

The styles and cuts of Arabic dress are as individual as the woman who wears them, andprices range from approximately $20.00 US dollars, to several hundred dollars.

The Saudi woman wears the abaya in adherence to her religious practices. The rules for

Arabic dress are derived from the Koran, and hadith, or traditions of the ProphetMohammad. In the Koran, it is written: "

say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze andguard their modesty;that they should not display their beauty and adornments except what (must ordinarily)appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display theirbeauty except to their husbands, their fathers, sons and uncles(the Koran goes on to

list exceptions)


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Saudi women pride themselves on their tradition, and most will wear plain black.

Saudi women of influence will pay large sums of money to have customized abayas cutfrom the finest of fabrics. They detail the garments with real gem stones, in modestproportions, and Saudi women will compare the flow, style and designer abayas amongst

themselves. The religious police dont care about material or design. As long as a woman is covered, he

will leave her alone.

Saudi women, like their other Arab counterparts, wear a traditional covering, called anabaya. It is a large, loose-fitting cloak-like garment worn over their clothes. The purpose ofthis Arabic dress is to protect the women, and help them to remain modest

A Saudi woman has to cover not only her body, but her head. In Saudi, I came acrossSaudi women who covered their heads and faces completely, and some who even woregloves. No matter how long I was in the country, I couldnt help but giggle when a womanpassed, veiled from head to toe, in a very traditional Arabic dress style, with netting over herface, wearing her glasses on the exterior of her covering. I often wondered how the glassesstayed in place. The women looked like black mummies wandering the streets in glasses.

How much of a womans body she has to cover is at the discretion of the man she belongsto, normally her husband. If a Saudi woman is too young to wed, then her father, brothersand/or uncles dictate how modest she should be.


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Hijab is a general word that indicates not just the headscarf, but clothing in its entirety. Aproper Arabic woman has to meet the following conditions :

1. Clothing must cover the entire body, only the hands and face may remain visible(depending on the Islamic school of thought and what her husband or protective male

dictates)2. The material must not be so thin that one can see through it.3. The clothing must hang loose so that the shape or form of the body is not apparent.4. The female clothing must not resemble the man's clothing.5. The design of the clothing must not resemble the clothing of the non-believing women.6. The design must not consist of bold designs which attract attention.7. Clothing should not be worn for the sole purpose of gaining reputation or increasing one'sstatus in society.

The reason for this strictness is so that the woman is protected from the lustful gaze ofmen. She should not attract attention to herself in any way. It is permissible for a man tocatch the eye of a woman , however it is forbidden for a man to look twice as thisencourages lustful thoughts. If he does, then the woman is to blame for his sin. She did not

cover properly.


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Shukran..........

1. history and culture of saudi arabia

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